Real estate market up; Freeloading online news readers down

UP: Real estate market. Although the median sales price remained flat, existing home and condo sales were up 20% in Dane County and 24% in the region in May compared to a year ago. In Dane County, 604 homes were sold last month. There have been 2,013 sales this year in Dane County.

DOWN: Freeloading online news readers. The Wisconsin State Journal and The Capital Times institute a "paywall" for access to articles at the papers' shared website, Madison.com. The first 20 articles are free each month, but after that, users must pay $4.95 a month to read more. Print subscribers can get unlimited online access for $1.95 a month. State Journal editor John Smalley tells his paper: "As things have evolved in our business, it's become very clear that getting subscription revenue for our digital content is really important."